5G is the final nail in the coffin for home phones

Anula Wiwatowska - Offsite Editorial Lead

Last updated 08 December 2021

5G home internet is going to be the technology that finally kills home phones for good, and telcos aren’t bothering trying to save them.

The three major telcos are now offering 5G home internet as a viable NBN alternative, in addition to 4G home internet, and we’re certainly going to see smaller providers coming to market with competing offers as soon as it is reasonable to do so. This is great news for the 40% or so of Aussies still struggling on a Fibre to the Node NBN connection, and even for those on ‘good’ tech types like Fibre to the Premises and HFC.

Broadband over 5G offers great speeds, and significantly better value for these speeds when compared to similar NBN plan tiers. One thing that it doesn’t offer, however, is a home phone line connection.

None of the providers selling 5G plans have a concurrent home phone offering alongside it. This isn’t to say that telcos are unable to sell home phone connections with 5G, but more that they have made the conscious choice not to. When the NBN came into play it took over the old copper lines we used to make phone calls, if you want a home phone you need to set up VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) to make your phone calls over the internet. There is no mechanical reason why the telcos can’t offer the same service with 5G modems, but it does beg the question as to why they would even bother.

Over the past two years, WhistleOut has seen a 90% decrease in broadband plan searches that include a home phone line. Personally, I don’t know a single household comprised of people my age that has a home phone, and when I asked if they would consider it the consensus was a resounding, “no, why would I do that?”

Home phones were a staple in my childhood. I have distinct memories of coming home from school, dialling my friend’s home phone number, asking their parents if I could talk to them, and then chatting for hours. A scenario that now gives me anxiety just thinking about it.

Mobile phones undeniably changed the way that we communicate, and the trends suggest that the NBN has pushed us ever close to these glowing rectangles. Back in the ADSL days almost every plan was sold with a home phone line, whether you wanted it or not. Only Telstra, Optus and some of the TPG group continue to offer these bundles as standard on NBN plans, and there are a good number of internet service providers that just don’t have the option at all - Vodafone included.

The industry, and Australians have seemingly already come to terms with the death of landlines and the telcos’ choices to exclude the option entirely from 5G home internet plans only digs the grave deeper. A Telstra spokesperson told WhistleOut that, "there is less demand for voice services connected to home internet plans", and this was the catalyst for choosing to nix the option. Optus has noticed the same trend and told us that "more customers are moving away from the traditional fixed voice services in favor of using their mobiles or other VoIP applications."

While telcos aren’t coming right out and saying that 5G is an NBN replacement, it makes fiscal sense for the major telcos to push these home wireless plans as a primary connection. It is cheaper for The Big Three to use their own mobile networks than it is to pay for access to the NBN and then sell it on. Yet, even though the providers could make more money selling you a landline with this new primary internet connection they have all chosen not to. Take a telco giving up the chance to make money as a neon, glowing sign.

Like all old tech, there will be times that the old home phone perseveres. Rural Australians without reliable internet or mobile connectivity still rely on the old copper network, those with MediAlerts that are still connected through a landline, 16-year-olds will rediscover rotary phones in ten years and make them trendy again, offices still exist (for now). But for most of us, the landline will only carry on as a relic of the past. The VHS of the telecommunications world.

Rest in peace.

Anula Wiwatowska

Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram

Anula is the Off-Site Editorial Lead for WhistleOut Australia, and an award winning tech journalist. She has been writing about the Australian telco industry, and consumer technology for over five years, and has been known to tell her Uber driver which phone they should upgrade to next.

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